Helping a regional accounting firm convert ILT to webinars
Client challenge
A small, but rapidly expanding public accounting and advisory firm identified a need to ensure its professionals advising transaction-based businesses were educated and knowledgeable to meet the expectations and needs of its client base. As a result, they created an internal “university” program, hosting training sessions on a semi-annual basis, along with smaller group sessions on a more frequent basis. We were engaged to present at these sessions to cover some of the more advanced and technical accounting and reporting areas under U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
However, the firm was recently faced with two challenges that threatened its university program, one self-inflicted and one that nobody could have predicted:
- The firm expanded its offices outside of one metropolitan area to a number of offices around the country, increasing potential travel costs and time spent away from its clients in order to attend the training; and
- The COVID-19 pandemic forced the firm to cancel any live classroom training for the foreseeable future
Not wanting to slow down the momentum of its “university” training program, the firm turned to GAAP Dynamics to quickly and seamlessly transform this program to a virtual solution.
Our solution
With little virtual training experience, the firm looked to us to provide the necessary technology and a full-service training solution that would be reminiscent of the training culture they had previously created. With the next training only weeks away, we needed to take previously planned live-classroom course materials and convert them into a format suitable for a live webinar.
No problem! Within two weeks, we:
- Developed a CPE-compliant training offered via a live webinar.
- Registered learners for the webinar on our learning management system (LMS), allowing us to track participation and issue CPE certificates.
- Provided an interactive virtual experience that, while clearly different from what the client was accustomed to, had several attributes that mimicked a live-classroom experience, allowing learners to interact with presenters and each other, including asking questions, participating in discussions, and sharing experiences.
By hosting the webinar and providing multiple instructors, we were able to create a learning environment that engaged learners, was relevant and timely to their learning needs, and continued the momentum of the learning culture being fostered by the firm.
Their transformation
The transition to the webinar was a success. In fact, our client’s learning and development manager could not have been happier:
That was a wonderful training! So smooth and professional. I got to relax! I know that the team enjoyed it.”
A firm partner overseeing the technical accounting group also was satisfied with the end result:
The team really did enjoy the trainings both from an entertainment perspective as well as from a content perspective. (Both instructors) did a great job playing off of each other throughout the presentations and that, along with the more (client-specific) focused content, resulted in a great job keeping our people engaged.”
As a result of the webinar, we’ve been asked to host, on an ongoing basis, additional live webinars. Some in attendance even suggested that they preferred the webinar to a live classroom setting. Whatever the client chooses to do when live classroom training becomes an option again, GAAP Dynamics will be there to provide a top-notch learning experience, no matter the modality!
Struggling with converting live training into virtual solutions in the current environment? Let’s talk!